I am in favour of the motion before the House. There has been a tendency in this House over the years to introduce and pass laws that cannot be implemented. I think immediately of the rod licensing laws, litter laws, laws relating to dog licences and so on. A point in favour of the Minister for Communications — who did not come down in the the last shower — is that he was able to introduce the legislation which the Fine Gael Party, when in Government, were unable to do for a variety of reasons. Points against the Minister are that he introduced no assessment in respect of the MMDS system; nor did he introduce any regulations which should be laid before this house for 21 days; there was a four months delay before he appointed the commission to deal with radio stations and he has accepted applications for licences in respect of television transmissions without the regulations having been laid before the House for 21 days, as is necessary.
It will be fear of the law that will knock out the deflector systems and local radio at the end fo December. Those who took the initiative, had the motivation and interest to provide a service which the State was unable to provide for many years, will now be liable to £10,000 fine or two years in jail. This means they will not continue their operations on account of that fear after 31 December. As has been pointed out, there are penalties for secondary offences in respect of those who supply access, power or whatever.
Local radio on the west coast from Malin Head to Cork has provided a valuable service, local news, information and so on and can be beefed up from a balanced point of view. I accept that the position vis-à-vis radio is not as serious as that pertaining to the deflectors because the commission are considering applications. For example, there are three applications from County Mayo which should not take long to decide. Mayo County Council passed a unanimous resolution — that is, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members — six months ago against the MMDS system being introduced at all. Last evening 500 people attended a public meeting in Kiltimagh. It is one of the contradictions of Irish life that many of those people, for instance vehemently opposed to extradition and all that Mrs. Thatcher and her Government stand for, would say to one: whatever you do, keep the BBC service coming into our houses because it is a valuable service and we appreciate it. Fianna Fáil should show some commonsense in this regard. The Minister should take cognisance of the comments of Ministers and Deputies along the western seaboard because the public are speaking to them in relation to this important matter.
The present Minister for Communications has had extensive experience in politics. Some years ago he pulled a stroke in Wheatfield when he produced instant trees. He cannot produce instant satellite coverage or radio signals. In terms of the popularity of his party, which is quite high at present, I would advise him to seriously consider extending the remit of these operations until some time as an alternative becomes available. A 75-year old man in Blacksod, the next parish to New York, said to me, through a fog of pipe smoke: I like to watch snooker on the BBC; whatever you do do not put an end to that. It must be remembered that one-third of the people in that area are over the age of 65. If this little comfort is to be taken from them, then it will be seen to be discriminatory. I would ask that Fianna Fáil look at this from a commonsense point of view and extend the relevant date until such time as an alternative becomes available, when the agrument about the MMDS being the be-all of systems will no longer obtain. If there is not such an extension granted then I foresee a great deal of controversy. The issue is simple so far as rural people are concerned, that is that if one depresses the button on a television set and it does not work, there is something wrong. In this case if their screens are blank they will take it to mean that the Government have withdrawn that service. That is how they will view it. They do not understand the technical arguments of distribution systems, of microwave, wavelength allocations or whatever.
I hope the Government will take cognisance of the fact that 180,000 households are at present benefiting from this very valuable service and I would ask that it be extended.